Offered as a public service, I present the SM300 "Hall of Shame." Here are many examples of what is probably the most "faked" of all military watches, the Seamaster 300. All of the examples shown here are faked in some manner, and all were seen on our favorite auction site during the 30-day period of 03/06/2006-04/05/2006. The information presented here comes from many of the knowledgeable members at the Military Watch Resource Forum. I thank all of them for their contributions to this guide.

This one can be considered a poster-child for fake SM300s. Its got all the obvious clues:

"Stubbies"

The loops on the numbers 6 and 9 are closed. They are slightly open on authentic dials.

The second hand has a round ball, the correct hand would have an arrow.

The bezel insert is wrong in a number of ways. Most obvious is the type style of the numbers, which are too thick.

The word "CERTIFED" is misspelled on the caseback.

The word "WATERPROOF" is engraved with a "pointy" A. Authentic cases are engraved with a "flat-topped" A.

Note: This watch has a genuine Omega 552 movement. Most fake SM300s are found with genuine Omega movements, as they were shared with many other Omega models and are commonly avaliable.

Seller: fely73Auction Number: 8916562773

CLUES:

Pointy "A", "stubbies" and fake hands. The fake hands have a smaller lume area and thicker edges than authentic hands.

FAKE"Pointy A"

AUTHENTIC"Flat-top A"

Seller: vintagefusionAuction number: 8900458973

Here's a "stubbies" dial and sword hand set so you can do your own conversion. "Stubbies" are the tick marks (see below, circled) on the outer ring of the dial behind the hour markers.

Additional clues:

Notice how the lume on the dial is "aged" yellow and the lume on the hands is bright white.

The date window is not outlined. Authentic date model dials should have an outlined window.

The "ball" style second hand isincorrect.

FAKE

AUTHENTICNO "stubbies", outlined date window, open loops on 6 and 9. This is a "Small Triangle" example.

"stubbies"

FAKE

FAKE

CLUE: Fake dials commonly have the numbers 6 and 9 with closed loops. On authentic dials the loops are slightly open. Also note on the fake dial the numbers are positioned considerably closer to the marker. Here are some examples showing fake and authentic number stlyes.

AUTHENTIC

AUTHENTIC

AUTHENTIC

AUTHENTIC

Seller: rvwin1Auction number: 5082097778

CLUES:

"Stubbies" dial with excessively aged lume.

Issue number A/254/67 is known to be used on many fakes. See page two for more examples of watches with this issue number.

It also lacks solid strap bars, which would be seen if it were in fact a genuine military issue.

Fake bezels: Fake bezels are typically printed without any lume. The triangle and numbers are printed in a yellow color to give the appearance of lume. Genuine bezels have a lumed triangle and numbers. Older authentic bezels may not glow very long, but may still energize for a short time if exposed to bright light.

CLUE: The seller of this one knows it's fake, here's a quote from the auction description: "GENIUNE 1960'S OMEGA MOVEMENT, REST OF THE WATCH HAS BEEN RECENTLY REMADE". Be suspicious of this type of language in any auction.